The threat of liberal indoctrination: Is this the best Bob Ehrlich can come up with?

Bob Ehrlich devoted roughly one-third of an entire op-ed page in Sunday's Sun to a surprisingly weak and inarticulate diatribe about how liberal colleges and universities are often force-feeding "your kids" ludicrous, politically correct junk ("As kids head to college, beware liberal groupthink," Feb. 24). He only made direct reference to four universities.

Vanderbilt, a private school, allegedly placed four Christian groups on provisional status for requiring members to adhere to religious tenets. Mr. Ehrlich also made reference to the six year old incident at Duke, also a private institution, where "88 professors unjustly indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced three innocent varsity lacrosse players for a non-existent campus rape". Another institution that was mentioned in his editorial was Palm Beach State College, where a Young Americans for Freedom booth was closed down for handing out anti-Obama administration materials. The last example raised was a vague reference to a "Florida community college" where a math professor asked students to sign a pledge to vote for President Barack Obama and other Democrats.

Really? Out of more than 2,600 public and private universities in this country, these are the best examples of liberal indoctrination that he could come up with? Other than the Duke situation, there are no dates associated with the other incidents. Who knows when they may have happened!

In another part of his column, Mr. Ehrlich referred to those who exercised their First Amendment rights by advocating for the removal of military recruiters from unnamed college campuses as "miscreants." Such an ad hominem attack is rather curious since he is exercising those same First Amendment rights in his column. Unlike some readers, I applaud the Sun for giving Mr. Ehrlich this forum. I firmly believe in the saying that it is better for someone to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt. Speak away, Mr. Ehrlich.

Len Friedheim, Columbia

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